Judge denies protective order request

A U.S. District Court judge has ruled that the media will be allowed to obtain autopsy reports, photographs, lab reports and other records related to the police-involved shooting death of Lodi resident and Gulf War veteran Parminder Singh Shergill in Lodi's Peterson Park in January.

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By Keith Reid

recordnet.com

By Keith Reid

Posted Aug. 9, 2014 at 12:01 AM

By Keith Reid

Posted Aug. 9, 2014 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

A U.S. District Court judge has ruled that the media will be allowed to obtain autopsy reports, photographs, lab reports and other records related to the police-involved shooting death of Lodi resident and Gulf War veteran Parminder Singh Shergill in Lodi's Peterson Park in January.

Magistrate Judge Allison Claire released her decision Friday in Sacramento, denying a protective order requested by lawyers representing the city of Lodi, the Lodi Police Department, Police Chief Mark Helms and Officers Scott Bratton and Adam Lockie. Lawyers Amie McTavish and Mark Berry are representing Lodi and the officers.

The protective order request called for all details that have been or will be produced in the "discovery" phase of the trial be suppressed until it is submitted as evidence during trial - which is not scheduled until September 2016.

Shergill was shot and killed by police on Jan. 25 after his sister-in-law called 911, telling dispatchers he was off his medication and was attacking his mother. Shergill suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, family attorney Mark Merin said.

Lockie and Bratton responded to the call on Elderica Way and later located Shergill walking in Peterson Park. Police said Shergill charged at the officers with a knife.

McTavish said in a phone interview Friday that she and Berry filed the order because the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office has not decided whether to press criminal charges against Lockie and Bratton.

"The officers deserve to have (the district attorney) look at that information without all of the details out in the public," McTavish said. "We were asking for the information to stay within the litigation until the district attorney has made a decision."

Merin has said obtaining the multiagency report - specifically the autopsy report, toxicology reports and officer statements - is among the chief purposes of the suit.

Merin has released witness statements produced by his investigators and other information to the public.

McTavish said Lodi has not been adverse to releasing some information. She noted, for example, the city provided the media with audio files of the 911 call and radio traffic as well as photographs of a knife the department claims was in Shergill's hand when he charged the police officers.

McTavish and Berry have argued that releasing information from a multiagency report could be harmful to their case. They further argued that publicly identified witnesses could be less eager to participate in police investigations or to testify.

Claire said in her ruling that a protective order would be a prior restraint on free speech.

"It is true that this case has garnered some media attention, and that both plaintiffs and defendants have communicated with the media, but defendants have not established that the coverage has been so pervasive or hostile to this point that their right to a fair trial is threatened absent a gag order," Claire wrote.

Claire was not the only judge to release a decision in relation to the Shergill case this week.

U.S. District Court Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. also released his decision to partially deny and partially grant motions to dismiss the case filed by the defense.

McTavish said Burrell granted motions to dismiss allegations that Helms is liable in the case for not having provided Lockie and Bratton proper training for mental health patients. Burrell also ruled that the plaintiffs' claim that the officers failed to accommodate Shergill under the Americans with Disabilities Act is unwarranted.

McTavish said Merin has two weeks to provide further evidence to support both claims.

Contact reporter Keith Reid at (209) 546-8257 or kreid@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/edublog and on Twitter @kreidme.